State Board of Education approves new science standards

March 31,
2016 – The State Board
of Education has approved the first Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for
science, which will be implemented during the 2017-18 school year following a
full year of teacher training. The new standards were developed based on public
feedback from teachers, parents and families, students, business and industry,
and community members, who shared their input through survey opportunities and
committee participation. Following that, the standards were posted for a 60-day
public comment period, which ran from January 15 to March 14, 2016. View
a summary of changes here.

“These
standards were developed based on feedback from the public – from teachers,
students, parents, business and industry leaders, higher education
representatives, and other concerned citizens,” State School Superintendent
Richard Woods said. “We are grateful for the thousands of Georgians who took
the time to review the proposed standards and share their opinions – they have
helped us create appropriate standards with ample time available for teacher
training.”

“The standards
review process is intended to give educators, parents, and other stakeholders
an opportunity to express their concerns, and changes were made on the basis of
their responses,” State Board Chair Mike Royal said. “As a result, these new
science standards are a direct response to the needs of Georgia’s students.”

As part of the
process of the review that produced the new standards, science teachers across
the state were asked to provide feedback for every single standard and element
in their grade level or high school course. The science surveys drew more than
9,000 teachers, with participation from every school district. Regional
Education Service Agencies (RESAs) assisted in development of the survey, and
the University System of Georgia provided a third-party analysis of the survey
results.

Students,
parents and families, business and industry, and community members were also
invited to provide feedback on the existing standards through an additional
survey. SEDL, an affiliate of American Institutes for Research, assisted in
management of this survey, and Georgia State University provided a third-party
analysis of the results.

Survey results
were used by practicing Georgia science teachers to guide revisions made to the
existing standards. Advisory and academic committees also took part in the
revision; these included district-level instructional leaders, parents, and
representatives from business and industry, Georgia’s university and technical
college systems, nonprofit organizations and other education-related state
agencies.

The proposed
standards were then posted for 60 days of public comment. Following that
period, committee members reconvened to review the survey data and make
recommendations by grade level and high school course. During the time public
comment was open, the GaDOE received 5,098 responses to the science survey.

A note
regarding social studies: the State Board of Education tabled the social
studies standards so they could go back to the committee members to discuss
some of the modifications/clarifications made after the committee’s vote.